I am sure I am missing something fundamental and glaringly obvious, but here goes.

I have 2 machines, core 2 duo 1.8GHz, 2GB Ram, 300GB HDD, with Windows Vista Home Premium and Mandriva 2008 (Free), the other with a PIII, 866Mhz, 256MB, 30GB HDD with Windows XP and Linux 2007.1 Spring (free). The two windows systems talk to each other without any problems and the linux systems can access the windows files on their local machines. Here are the problems I have.

1. 2008 cannot find any Windows system installed when I try to use the porting tool provided in MCC in 2008.
2. Neither linux system can find the other nor the remote windows system.
3. Neither Windows system can find any linux system, remote or local
4. Boot messages say "Starting lisa.....[OK], but when I try to access the network from linux I get an alert that lisa is not running
5. When I try to install a network printer using cups, the system freezes at the "searching for new printers" stage and needs a hard reset.

I have ensured that the host names match (/downstairs/ and /upstairs/ in both windows and linux)
I have tried to configure it with both the KDE tool and MCC with notable lack of success.
The shares are set up on both Windows systems.
I have installed ntfs-3g

The configuration tools report 2 network interfaces on each machine, labeled as lo and eth0. I only have one physical interface on each machine so presumably lo is a virtual device, unless it refers to the network switch that both machines connect to each other and the Internet through. I am totally confused here.

Also irritating (an admittedly off topic here) is that the graphical boot does not work on the PII machine, despite all the configurations looking correct. Not really important but suggestions here appreciated as well.

All comments, suggestions and help, as always, much appreciated.

Dave

Have you got the samba packages installed on the Linux systems? Also, you can check/test samba connectivity by opening nautilus (gnome) or konqueror (kde) and typing:



you should then be presented with a list of workgroups/domains detected on your network. Normally, you will need samba-common and samba-client if you wish to connect to a Windows machine, so:



will show you what samba packages you've got installed on your machines. No results, and you're missing the key components to get you going for connecting to Windows shares.

lisa is just a daemon providing information in relation to connections available across the network - like Network Neighbourhood in Windows. Therefore, lisa on it's own won't do anything for you without the additional packages for samba, nfs, etc, etc in terms of displaying what it detected.

[quote name='ianw1974' date='Mar 24 2008, 01:41 PM' post='403524']
Have you got the samba packages installed on the Linux systems? Also, you can check/test samba connectivity by opening nautilus (gnome) or konqueror (kde) and typing:



This gives me the result "Malformed URL smb://:"

However, smb:\\ gives me the result "Timeout on server" It also shows the Windows icon in the location bar

This is the same on both machines.




Reports:
samba-client-3.0.25b-4.4mdv2008.0
samba-server-3.0.25b-4.4mdv2008.0
samba-common-3.0.25b-4.4mdv2008.0

and

samba-client-3.0.24-2mdv2007.1
samba-server-3.0.24-2mdv2007.1
samba-common-3.0.24-2mdv2007.1

On the respective systems.

So it looks as if all the relevant samba packages are installed. (I thought they were as it was the first thing on my checklist when I started)

Here are some other configuration settings I have:

Only samba (NFS not enabled)
Shared folders:
/var/lib/samba/printers/
/var/spool/samba/
/var/tmp/
+ 2 Users and guest account Documents directories (Guest account necessary for business)

On the 2007.1 system, using KDE Control centre, users entered into the Users section in Samba do not "stick", ie when the Users section is viewed after leaving and re-entering the module, all entries have been deleted. This does not happen on the 2008 system. Security level is set to Share on both systems. Default host is set as /downstairs/, workgroup as mdkgroup

I have been revisiting this setup for several weeks and still have no idea as to why it doesn't work. I know it can work or the Windows one wouldn't and that is even more frustrating.

If I had £1 for every time I have read a post like this I would be able to buy out Microsoft and release it as Open Source.

The annoying thing is that I know Samba does not have to be so difficult. About 18 months ago I got hold of a copy of Xandros Open Source Edition and it was mind boggling. Networking just worked straight away without any configuration or effort. Now if they can do it why can't anybody else? And it is definitely not just a problem with Mandriva, every distro I have ever used (except Xandros) is the same. Having said that I don't want you to rush out and download the first copy of Xandros OSE that you find because I definitely do not recommend it. The OSE edition is nothing but a giant advert for the paid for version and is the most blatantly commercial distro I have ever seen (I include Windows in that). When I was using it they even expected you to pay money to install free products such as Amarok and K3b, and although I ran it for about 6 months I never received one update, security or otherwise from the OSE repository. So unless you want to pay for the full version (which I am sure would be good) stay clear.

Anyway back to your problem. The only way I can connect to computers on my network with Mandriva is to use ip addresses. So run ipconfig on windows and ifconfig on Linux to find your IP addresses and then try to connect by opening a file manager and typing:



or whatever your ip address is.

The other classic issue with this is firewalls, but I am sure you will have thought of that. In case you haven't, unplug your telephone line then disable all installed firewalls and try again.

Windows will access Linux files only if samba server is running and properly configured.
Linux clients should access windows shares without samba configuration via the KDE virtual filesystem ( smb:/ at a konqueror/krusader address line), unless the windows firewall is preventing access to the files. You can also use a small fuse module named smbnetfs, which is automounting the windows shares at logon to the Linux box, and it's desktop-unspecific (= can be used under KDE, Gnome, XFCE4, E17 or any other Linux desktop).

Thanks for your input. Result of ifconfig is:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:19:21:78:34:51
inet addr:78.136.120.20 Bcast:78.136.120.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::219:21ff:fe78:3451/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:178228 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:48785 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:68098096 (64.9 MiB) TX bytes:5888725 (5.6 MiB)
Interrupt:17

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:60948 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:60948 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:10124600 (9.6 MiB) TX bytes:10124600 (9.6 MiB)

Result of


using these addresses on the 2008 machine is:

[root@localhost ~]# smb://78.136.120.20
bash: smb://78.136.120.20: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# smb://78.136.120.20
bash: smb://78.136.120.20: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# smb://78.136.120.255
bash: smb://78.136.120.255: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# smb://255.255.255.0
bash: smb://255.255.255.0: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# smb://127.0.0.1
bash: smb://127.0.0.1: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# smb://255.0.0.0
bash: smb://255.0.0.0: No such file or directory

As I said, I am probably missing something fundamental and glaringly obvious (but not to me!)
I disable the firewall every time I start a new configuration attempt and both machines were running linux when I did this.

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

[quote name='scarecrow' date='Mar 24 2008, 04:16 PM' post='403634']
Windows will access Linux files only if samba server is running and properly configured.
Linux clients should access windows shares without samba configuration via the KDE virtual filesystem ( smb:/ at a konqueror/krusader address line)

This gives me the message:

Unable to find any workgroups in your local network. This might be caused by an enabled firewall.

With all firewalls disabled.

What is a "fuse module", please?

fuse module is for ntfs-3g and won't be your samba problem. Did you configure samba on the Linux machines and put them in the same workgroup/domain as the other Windows machines? Normally though, you should be able to browse shares but for some reason your system can't see anything maybe being blocked by firewall.

Can you post the results of this from both Linux machines, and also ensure that Windows doesn't have a firewall enabled on it's network connections.



then we'll see what services are enabled in Windows and running, maybe seeing iptables or shorewall somewhere in this list or even mandi-ifw.

[root@localhost ~]# smb://78.136.120.20

This won't work, of course. The smb virtual filesystem is accessible only via a KDE application, not the bash shell.
(and you should not try such operations as root).
Simply try again
smb://78.136.120.20
in the konqueror address bar, or the krusader one- not bash/konsole.
@ ian1974:
ntfs-3g is just one fuse module out of many. I was talking above about smbnetfs, which is a very easy way to access windows/samba shares as local files.

I know, but Dave asked about what is fuse. That is why I answered

Sorry, I assumed that anything displayed as "code" went into a cli. I did try it in konqueror anyway and all it brought up were the linux files on the local machine. This did also give me a route to the local windows directories but I had that anyway.

Can you post the results of this from both Linux machines, and also ensure that Windows doesn't have a firewall enabled on it's network connections.



then we'll see what services are enabled in Windows and running, maybe seeing iptables or shorewall somewhere in this list or even mandi-ifw.
[/quote]

OK, here is the output and my observations. The problem with disabling firewalls is that my setup gives both machines direct access to the internet via a switchbox . This connects to a telephony modem which also gives me my telephone service via a microwave link to my ISP (no wires here in rural Spain). The same connections via ethernet ports also allow the lan, so opening the physical local network port also gives access to the internet. I notice both machines show a second virtual interface (lo) but have no idea how this works. With Windows I just had to set up the shares and it was up and running, even the printer.

This is from the Downstairs machine

acpi 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
acpid 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
alsa 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
atd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
avahi-daemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
consolekit 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
crond 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
cups 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
dkms 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
dm 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:on 6:off
fuse 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
haldaemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
harddrake 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
hcfpci 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
hsf 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
httpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
iptables 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
keytable 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
kheader 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
mandi 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
mdadm 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
messagebus 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
netfs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
network 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
network-up 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
nfs-common 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
ntpd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
numlock 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
partmon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
pcscd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
resolvconf 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
shorewall 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
smb 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
sound 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
syslog 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
system-tools-backends 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
vboxadd-timesync 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
webmin 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
wine 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
[root@localhost ~]#

I note that lisa is not listed downstairs. It is definitely installed, but I have no idea how to get it running - it all happened automatically using 2007.

And this from the upstairs machine.

[root@localhost ~]# chkconfig --list | grep -i :on
acpi 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
acpid 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
alsa 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
atd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
avahi-daemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
crond 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
ct_sync 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
cups 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
dm 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:on 6:off
haldaemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
harddrake 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
iptables 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
keytable 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
kheader 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off
lisa 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
mandi 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
messagebus 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
netfs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
network 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
network-up 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
nfslock 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
numlock 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
partmon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
portmap 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
postfix 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
resolvconf 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
rpcgssd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
rpcidmapd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
shorewall 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
smb 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
sound 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
syslog 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
ucarp 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
xfs 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
xinetd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
[root@localhost ~]#

It seems impossible to switch the shorewall off completely. The GUI tool allows you to select "No firewall" and deselect eth0, but it doesn't seem to stay switched off - when I go back in, eth0 is checked again and the "No

I am not surprised because I am pretty sure that the 78. address is your public ip address not a private network one. I don't think you want to set up a home network based on that unless you have a very relaxed attitude to personal privacy. Private IP address ranges are 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255, 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 and your router should provide an address somewhere in one of those ranges for you to share a network on. I assume you are using a router to connect the machines or is this just a crossover cable?

When I run ifconfig I get the private address as allocated from my router not the public one, I am not sure why you don't.(unless you have NAT turned off in the router config or it doesn't provide NAT, but I am really getting a bit out of my depth with NAT - I know how to switch it on and off and I know that in general it is a good thing but that is about as far as my knowledge goes).

I also notice you have iptables and shorewall services enabled and running on these machines, since they are in the list above. That means firewall is enabled, unless configuration is fully open.

The 'lo' network device is loopback and is for linux PC's to talk to themselves (w/o leaving the machine). Its IP address is always 127.0.0.1.
My guess (like ianw) is that both linux machines have the default firewall settings, meaning closed to smb (ports 137-139, 445). Check the logs (/var/los/messages and /var/log/samba/). You can open the firewall for samba by hand by editing /etc/shorewall/rules. You can do the same via the control center (security, setup personal firewall, select Windows file sharing). This will create /etc/shorewall/rules.drakx. Mine looks like follows for CUPS (631), Samba & SSH (22):



My experience with a windows client (98, 98SE & XP) and Mandriva server is that samba does not give appropriate error messages it if gets blocked by a firewall, be it on the server or on the client (windows or linux client should accept responses from the server).

Another problem I have had with Samba is that of the workgroup name. Whatever you have put in /etc/samba/smb.conf behind workgroup = should match with what you have as workgroup on your windows PC (I forgot where you set it, but you can check in under control panel, system, computer name). If these do not match (I do not think case matters to windows), then (my conclusion was) clkient will not see server or vice versa.

No, I don't get any addresses in the ranges above when I run ifconfig, no, I don't have a router I have a network switch and as far as I know it doesn't provide NAT (whatever that is) and no, it is deifintely not a crossover cable. When switching off (both machines) I get a warning message that "shorewall.conf (something) IP6 but this machine does not appear to have IP6 tables". Neither can I find shorewall.conf on either machine.
I don't know if it is relevant but the 2 machines have different IP addresses. Downstairs has 78.136.120.20 and upstairs has 88.148.50.166. These are the inet addr from ifconfig, so it looks as if I only have 2 Internet addresses and no local ones, although, as I said, it was simplicity itself to set up under Windows.

Thanks for you help. This is copied from yesterday's entries in /var/log/messages:

Mar 25 15:47:34 localhost drakfirewall[7966]: configuring shorewall to allow ports: 137/tcp 137/udp 138/tcp 138/udp 139/tcp 139/udp 445/tcp
445/udp 1024:1100/tcp 1024:1100/udp 631/tcp 631/udp 8/icmp

and rules.drakx shows

ACCEPT net fw udp 137,138,139,445,1024:1100,631 -
ACCEPT net fw tcp 137,138,139,445,1024:1100,631 -
ACCEPT net fw icmp 8 -

Output from /etc/firewall/drakx.rules

ACCEPT net fw udp 137,138,139,445,1024:1100,631 -
ACCEPT net fw tcp 137,138,139,445,1024:1100,631 -
ACCEPT net fw icmp 8 -

Is there anything else I can do? Incidentally, when shutting down I get the message "Warning DISABLE IPV6=Yes in Shorewall.conf but this system does not appear to have IPV6 tables". I can't find Shorewall.conf anywhere and have no idea how to disable IPV6 tables anyway.

Dave http://mandrivausers.org/style_emoticons/default/wall.gif

Don't know whether this will help, but this is the configuration from the Windows Vista machine, which is talking to the XP machine.

Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión: indalotv.net
Descripción: Controladora de Gigabit Ethernet Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E
Dirección física: 00-19-21-78-34-51
Habilitado para DHCP: Sí
IPv4 Dirección IP: 88.148.50.222
IPv4 Máscara de subred: 255.255.255.0
Concesión obtenida: miércoles, 26 de marzo de 2008 11:43:14
La concesión expira: domingo, 30 de marzo de 2008 10:19:53
IPv4 Puerta de enlace predeterminada: 88.148.50.1
IPv4 Servidor de DHCP: 192.168.1.3
IPv4 Servidores DNS: 212.0.114.244, 80.58.0.33, 212.230.255.1, 80.58.0.33
IPv4 Servidor WINS:
Habilitado para NetBios a través de Tcpip: Sí
Vínculo: dirección IPv6 local: fe80::b518:c010:de98:8a7d%8
IPv6 Puerta de enlace predeterminada:
IPv6 Servidor DNS:

(Sorry this is in Spanish, Sufijo is suffix, Dirección is address, Puerta is port, Enlace is connect, Máscara is mask, Habilitado is enabled, Vinculo is link, Predeterminada is default, A tráves is over (via), Red is net (subred=subnet) and I think the rest are either fairly obvious or unimportant). Perhaps I should be doing this via VPN rather than Samba?

Here are the XP machine details:

Physical Address: 00-20-18-A1-58-7D
IP Address: 88.148.50.33
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 88.148.50.1
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.3
Lease Obtained: 26/03/2008 9:31:58
Lease Expires: 30/03/2008 8:08:38
DNS Servers: 212.0.114.244, 80.58.0.33, 212.230.255.1, 80.58.0.33
WINS Server:

Hope this can help.

Did you try running in a windows command prompt? I am not sure that this is going to tell you anything but you never know.
If you want to know if shorewall is running or not just go into a root terminal and type:



If it is and you want to switch it off type:



followed by



At this point your computer will be completely unprotected so make sure you are not connected to the internet (unplug the phone line or modem)

When you want to restart it type:



If you prefer not to use the command line just look in MCC/system/manage services. This can start or stop shorewall but not clear the rules it has created, to do that graphically you have to go into MCC/security/setup firewall and set it to 'no firewall'.

I wouldn't worry about the IP6 warning on shutdown btw, I get this every time as well.

Thank you everyone for your help.

On examining the Windows (both XP and Vista) configurations, I note that I get a DHCP Server address of 192.168.1.3 (within the range for local network provided by viking777) on both machines, additionally labeled as IPv4 from Vista, but it would appear from the output of ifconfig that there there does not appear to be any such address in either of the linux setups, which is probably the problem. Is there some basic step in the setup of the network under linux that I am overlooking? Not being particularly knowledgeable I have taken the advice of the configuration tool and just kept defaults, which I am sure said to use DHCP configuration anyway.

Dave

Well if the defaults didn't work you could always try a manual configuration. I'll say right from the outset though that I don't know if this will solve your problem and although I know how my network works I don't know if the same logic can be applied to yours, so keep a note of what you are doing and be prepared to undo it if it doesn't work.

If you want to try it open MCC/setup a new network interface/Ehternet/Manual configuration. You will then be asked for IP address which is your choice but it should be in the same range as your dhcp server so for instance you could try 192.168.1.5. you will be asked for netmask which sometimes will fill itself in but is usually 255.255.255.0, gateway, which is where your setup differs from mine because your default gateway from the posts you have given appears to be related to your public ip address whereas mine is related to my internal one. Anyway I have as the gateway the address of my router. In your case I guess this is 192.168.1.3. You will then be asked for 2 dns servers which you can copy from your previous posts, and lastly a hostname which is the name your computer uses on your network. Fill these details in on both computers, reboot and see what happens. NB The ip addresses that you choose must be in the same range on both computers but not exactly the same. For instance if you use 192.168.1.5 for upstairs you could use 192.168.1.6 for downstairs. The hostname must be unique on both machines as well, the other details are the same.

Hope it works for you.

Don't blame me if it doesn't!!

It didn't and I dont!, but thanks anyway.

Many thanks to everyone who has offered advice and assistance. Today I disconnected the modem and shut down shorewall completely as given above. The results were exactly the same as before. I am knocking this on the head now as there appears to be some basic incompatibility here that seems impossible to resolve and I do not have the patience, time or resources to pursue it further. I do not understand why Windows is assigned DHCP addresses in both the public and private network range but linux only gets them in the public range from exactly the same equipment but I suspect this is at the heart of the problem. Tried also today to set up VPN but the system just freezes at the Installing Packages stage so have decided that is a non starter. My congratulations to everyone who has managed to get a linux network going. I seem doomed to be stuck with Windows, which would be less irritating if it had not been so easy to set up networking with it!

Dave

Sorry it didn't work for you Dave, but as a parting shot, and only if you are desperate mind, you could always go here:

http://www.xandros.com/products/home/home_edition.html

Download the 30 day trial and see if it sorts out a network connection for you (I bet it will). When you have it going make careful note of all the settings that you can find and when you delete it (because you will, believe me) try out the same settings with a sensible distro.

It is a bit of an extreme tactic I must admit, I am not even sure that I would do it, but then my network is working.

All the best anyway.

Downloaded it, checked the md5 sum, burnt it to disk, didn't work, burnt it to a new disk, hung up halfway through. Burnt it to a 3rd disk with a different (new) drive. At 75% it told me there was an "Unknown Installation Error". Tried to save the details but machine hung completely. I have tried burning it with K3b in linux and Nero and Burn4Free under windows XP and Vista so I don't think that is the problem. There seems to be something very odd about my setup and as near as I can determine, it is not a virus and I don't know of any odd hardware. I should point out that around three quarters of electrical or electronic purchases I make need to be repaired or replaced within a week. In the last 3 years this has been: a food processor (died after 2 days) , Misubishi television (dead on arrival), sky satellite box (DOA), this computer (motherboard failure), kettle (electric shocks), DVD recorder (would not record), washing machine (died halfway through first wash), alarm clock (reset to 0 instead of sounding alarm). The problem could just be me!

Thanks for all your help.

Dave

Samba is completely broken and useless at this point, not just in Mandy but most other distros as well. All users want is simple SMB/CIFS file sharing. Nobody wants to emulate an NT 4.0 domain controller. Unfortunately the developers aren't listening.